Top Ten Books of 2018

It's been a good year, reading-wise, and I had a real hard time limiting myself to just 10 books. But these are the best of the best, the books that moved me the most, and the books I'm most likely to reread and recommend to others.

A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towels Also wins the award for being the absolutely best book I have read all year. It took me completely by surprise, but ended up being one of the most unexpected comfort reads I think I have ever found. I highly recommend it.

The Loose-Ends List - Carrie Firestone Also wins the award for being the book that made me cry the hardest, however I wouldn't call it a depressing book - hardly even a sad book. It is YA when it's best. Poignant and REAL.

Illuminae - Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff Partly because of the plot (sci-fi), partly because of the writing style (epistolary), partly because of the awesome way the authors play with the media - using it to underline the plot and characters in pretty brilliant ways. I loved all three books in the trilogy, but the first was definitely the best.

Just One Damned Thing After Another - Jodi Taylor The sequel had too much forshadowing for me to care to continue the series, but this first book was absolutely brilliant! I'd requested book recommendations to get me out of a reading slump, and once again delivered BIG time! She hasn't steered me wrong yet! I love time-travel when done well, and here it certainly was. Absolutely awesome book!

Wolfsong - T.J. Klune A book made out of cupcakes and pine cones. Of epic and awesome. It is completely different from his "Tales From Verania" series, but every bit as awesome. He writes relationships so well!
The One - John Marrs One of the best suspense novels I've read in a long time. I couldn't put it down, forgoing sleep to read it, and it stuck with me for a long time after finishing it.

A Wish on the Stars - T.J. Klune The conclusion of the Tales From Verania quartet, and the best one since the first. I am so very grateful to Leslie and Laura for reviewing this series and have ended up falling deep in love with Sam, Gary and Tiggy... okay, and Kevin and Ryan too.

Beneath the Sugar Sky - Seanan McGuire I definitely have a weakness for surreal books, and Seanan McGuire writes surreal really, really well. Her "Discount Armageddon" came very close to earning a place on this list too, for much the same reason.

The Outsider - Stephen King A stand-alone novel in the "Finder's Keepers" universe. Stephen King is one of those authors who have most definitely improved with age and his newer books are much more to my tastes than his older ones were.

Now That You Mention It - Kristan Higgins Chick-lit with substance. It made me laugh, it made me cry and that automatelly makes me love a book.

Best books of 2018 (so far...)

We're just over half way through the year, so it's time to list my top 10 9 books of the year so far. As per usual, I'm not going to list rereads, which actually made picking my books a tad tricky as I've reread a LOT this year (which is also why I only made it to 9). Still, there were at least 3 that are sure contenders for my Best of 2018 list as well :-)

A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles Henni recommended this to me as an "unlikely comfort book", and she was spot on! I had NOT expected to love this as much as I did, but reading about Alexander Rostov's way of coping with his lot and carving out a life for him at the hotel just worked for me. I was a bit disappointed by the ending, but loved the rest.
Now That You Mention It - Kristin Hannah Kristin Hannah has written both one of the best and one of the worst books I've read so far this year. I received this as an arc and read it in no time flat. Chick-lit with substance.
A Wish Upon the Stars - T.J. Klune The last book in the "Tales from Verania" series, and every bit as sweet and funny and touching as I had expected. I expect this to be a series I reread often in the years to come.
The Loose Ends List - Carrie Firestone This book made me cry longer and harder than I had ever expected going into it. But it's not depressing. It's heartbreaking and life-affirming. Poignant and beautiful. A close contender to the best book I've read so far this year.
Just One Damned Thing After Another - Jodi Taylor The first book in a new series and I immediately fell in love with the quirkiness of it all. Unfortunately the sequels couldn't quite live up to it, but this first one was totally worth the read.
Discount Armageddon - Seanan McGuire Once I read "Life as the chosen religious figure for a colony of cryptid mice can be a lot of things, but it's definitely never boring." I was sold!
The Tuscan Time Traveler - Claus Holm I'm not usually a huge fan of short stories, but something about this collection just appealed to me.
There's Someone Inside Your House - Stephanie Perkins I started reading this mostly because I was interested in seeing how somebody known for the romance YA could write suspense. The answer? Surprisingly well! Sure, it had a few issues, but at the end of the day, I couldn't put it down, and greatly enjoyed it.
Algeria is Beautiful Like America - Olivia Burton I know very little about Algeria, so was fascinated by this graphic memoir describing Olivia's journey through the country her parents grew up in.

Top Ten Books I Hope Santa Brings

With Christmas coming up in less than a week, The Broke and the Bookish thought it about time for us to list which books we hope to find under the Christmas tree this year.

In no particular order...


The Obsession - Nora RobertsI read "The Obsession" earlier this year, and it immediately moved to the top of my "Top Ten Books of 2017" list (which I have yet to post). I own it as an e-book, but would love the physical copy as well.


Wish Upon a Star - Trisha AshleyThough presented as a Christmas novel, it's really not. But it IS one of the most delightfully charming and feel-good novels I've read in a long time. Unfortunately it seems to be out of print almost everywhere, but I still hope Santa can find it :-)


Hamilton: the Revolution - Lin-Manuel MirandaAnother book I read earlier this year. I got it out of the library, thinking it'd be the sort of book I'd want to read once and then that was it. I was wrong. Not only do I want to read it again, but I also want to have it to lend out to others, once they "discover" Hamilton for themselves (which may actually happen, now that it has opened in London. I so want to go over and see it!)


A Stray Drop of Blood / A Soft Breath of Wind - Roseanna M. WhitePossibly the two best books I read this year. Again, I own them as e-books, but really want them for my library as well.


In Arcadia - Andrea K. HöstProbably the last book of the Touchstone series. As I own all the others as physical copies, I'd love this one as well to complete my collection.


Under bjælken - Jens AndersenThe newly published official portrait of Crown Prince Frederik. It's been touted as being the most in-depth biography of our crown prince ever, and the few chapters that were released to promote it were really interesting. I know I could just get this from the library, but still wouldn't mind at all if Santa brought it :-)


Worsted for War - Rachael B. AndersonOne of my favourite webcomics in graphic novel form? Oh, yes please! :-D


Knitter's Handy Book of Top-Down Sweaters - Ann BuddNot so much a book of patterns as a book of numbers :) Ann Budd takes five basic sweater designs and provides stitch numbers for multiple different sizes and gauges. It's a book I would've been utterly uninterested in just a few years ago, but now that I'm more inclined to use sweater patterns as inspiration rather than a recipe to follow exactly, I thought it would be fun to have.


The Rabbit Hunter - Lars KeplerThe 6th book in a series where I've read and greatly enjoyed the first five. I definitely want to finish this series.


A Wish Upon the Stars - T.J. KluneCheating a little bit here, as this 4th book in the series won't actually be published until March of next year (which is also why the cover is from the 3rd book), and the audiobook will probably be even later than that, but I can't wait! So thought I'd add it here anyway.

Top Ten Books of 2016

It's that time of year again :-) I know we still have three days left of the year, but I'm going to call it now.

I haven't been quite as lucky with my book picks this year, for some strange reason, so the 5-star books (non-rereads anyway) have been sparser than usual, and there's been no one book that has blown me away.... which actually made it harder to pick a top 10, because once I was through the 5 star books, there were SO MANY 4 star books left to chose from! #firstworldproblems, I know ;)

In no particular order...
The Girl With All the Gifts - M.R. Carey Fascinating book that once again made me review my "I don't like zombie-novel" stance. Apparently I just don't like 'traditional' zombie novels. This was extremely clever and had me eagerly turning pages.
Britt-Marie Was Here - Fredrik Backman After having been somewhat disappointed by the first book I read by Fredrik Backman ("A Man Called Ove"), I absolutely LOVED this one! I laughed, I cried and I fell in love. Wonderful comfort read.
Caszandra - Andrea Höst The third book in the Touchstone Trilogy, but I read the first one (Stray) in 2015, so that one doesn't count. Possibly the best new series I read this year.
Wrong Way Round - Lorna Hendry No top ten list of mine is complete without at least one travelogue, apparently ;) This year it was a toss between this one and David Cohen's "One Year Off", but at the end of the day, I liked this one a tiiiny bit more... besides, I always love reading about Australia.
The Book of Life - Deborah Harkness The very suitable end to the All Souls trilogy. I felt positively book-hungover when I finished this one, and most of all wanted to turn to the very first one and read them through all over again :-) If there was a contender to "best book of the year", I think it would be this one. They just worked for me.
Time and Time Again - Ben Elton VERY different from the other books I've read by Ben Elton, and probably his best. But then, I love time travel stories, even when they sometimes take some suspension of disbelief. This had definite shades of Stephen King's "11/22/63" but with enough of a twist to not seem derivative. I loved it.
Wish Upon a Star - Trisha Ashley Don't let the cover fool you - this is not a Christmas story, it is just a very cozy comfort-read where the last few chapters happen to take place over Christmas. But what an awesome comfort-read! I have a feeling this will be a regular reread.
Delicious! - Ruth Reichl Not quite as much a foodie book as I had expected, but I still loved it, and wish we could have read more about the magazine.
The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware My favourite kind of thriller - no leaps of logic, no supernatural events, no (or little) gore and a good explanation for everything! Together with "The Couple Next Door" by Shari Lapena these were the best thrillers I've read all year.
You Were Here - Cori McCarthy NOT your run-of-the mill YA. Partly because it was written in part prose, part graphic novel and part art poetry. I didn't think it would work, but it totally did, and ended up being one of the most 'true' coming-of-age stories I've read in a long time.

Honorable Mention: Take It as a Compliment - Maria Stoian. I found this graphic memoir deeply disturbing, so couldn't in good faith call it one of the best books I read in 2016... but it's without a doubt one of the most important books I read. This should be made mandatory reading in high schools.

Top Ten Books That Just Aren't Appreciated Enough

Some books disappear into obscurity through no fault of their own. In order to do a bit of signal boosting on their behalf, here are my top ten books that have under 2000 reviews on Goodreads.

I'm going to exclude Danish books (as that wouldn't be a fair fight) and new releases (as they haven't had a chance to prove themselves yet).

This was difficult! On first look-through I ended up with 20 books I'd like to give a signal boost. All taken from my 5-star shelf on Goodreads. In order to keep myself from going nuts with indecision, I decided to limit myself further to only choosing books I've read more than once, under the theory that I know these will pass the test of time or something ;)

In no particular order...
The Wild Swans - Peg Kerr
Part 17 century England, part 20th century America. seamlessly weaves together the stories of Eliza, who has to save her 11 brothers who've been turned into swans and of Elias, who battles with AIDS in 1981 New York. It's been far too long since I read this last. I absolutely adore it.

Leaning on a Spider's Web - Jennifer Rees Larcombe
(Sorry, the Danish cover is so much prettier than the English! ;) )
I can't believe this book only has 3 reviews and 12 ratings! Granted, it's not a book I'd recommend to a non-Christian, but it is one of my very favourite Christian books. I discovered it first as a teen and have reread it several times since then.

Library of the Dead - Glenn Cooper
(a.k.a. Secret of the Seventh Son)
One of the best thrillers I've ever read. Tying together events in Las Vegas and New York of 2009, Area 51 of 1947 and Isle of Wright of 777 this made for fascinating reading! It's the first book in a trilogy but is nicely contained with no real cliffhangers.

Guilt By Association - Gilbert Morris
(a.k.a. "One By One")
A Christian suspense/mystery that's fascinated me from the very first time I read it. I enjoy mysteries where the clues are out there for the reader to see... not that I came even close to guessing the first time I read it, but on subsequent read-throughs, it's fun to pay attention to them.

The Rosary - Florence L. Barclay
An underrated classic. While definitely predictable in plot (at least in places), the writing is so incredibly beautiful that it's well worth reading.

A Modern Witch - Debora Geary
Are y'all really surprised that this made the list? But with less than 1000 reviews it has definitely been overlooked by the general public. I am so grateful to for recommending it to me - it's become a fast favourite of not just me, but my entire family. Comfort reading of the best kind!

Singularity - William Sleator
More people need to read this book! This was my introduction to sci-fi as a young teen and I still love it every bit as much as I did back then - even if I do know it practically off by heart ;) At 176 pages it's short enough that it can easily be read in a single sitting - and I usually do :)

Dragonsinger - Anne McCaffrey
It really surprised me that book two in the Harper Hall trilogy had less than 500 reviews! This is without comparison my favourite Anne McCaffrey book. I love reading about Menolly's life at Harper's Hall, and wish it had been much, much longer.

And All the Stars - Andrea K. Höst
Something as rare as a stand-alone science fiction novel! I was fortunate enough to receive it as an ARC in 2012 and immediately fell in love. It's "Tomorrow When the War Began" meets "The Host". Amazing.

The Yada-Yada Prayer Group - Neta Jackson
Ending up with another huge favourite of mine. This first book in the Yada Yada series is overlooked by far too many. Granted, some may think it's too saccharine in places, but it remains by far the best Christian fiction I've ever read. I first came across this series in 2008 and have read it through 4 times already in the years since.